I want to start a Critical Mass in my wee southern city—something has to be done and I have too many skeletons in the closet to run for public office. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated considering I’ve never attended one or tried to start one.

I’m thinking the last Friday of every month, February being the first, which gives me a month to flyer the town. Meet up at 5:00pm and the ride would be about 5 miles, does that sound about right? Should the route be from point A to point B or from A to B to A?
Any thing else?

Thanks.

Good luck with that!

I like a route that returns to origin, myself. Flyering is an awesome idea and may help grow the ride but if you can get a group of 5-10 friends who'll definitely ride with you, you'll be in pretty good shape for your first month. The fledgling Brooklyn ride is starting to get a lot of support, despite the cold weather here, and it's mostly been word of mouth from friend to friend so far. Have fun!

Don't.

My only suggestions thus far is to start at 5:30 instead of 5:00 and to encourage everyone to follow the traffic laws. Nothing will kill a fledgling cm faster than everyone being arrested, beaten, and their bikes taken away!

"Don't." Why? or are you just being a smartass, which is perfectly fine with me.

Don't listen to "don't." The point is to have fun , make a presence, and don't totally tie up traffic. Review your local ordinances and see what kind of risks you are in for: do you need a bell, a license, lights (you should have those anyway), only two abreast, etc. keep together and have some folks available to bring up the rear, etc. Where shirts that say: cycling is fun! put flyers on bikes you see around town. Keep a slow pace so everyone can stay together

I'll second that late start. A subcritical mass might be happening in Exeter this Friday, and us desk jockeys will need time to get from our cubes to our pefectly legitimate alternative commute. ;)

Yes, late start. In Cleveland I think we met @ 5:30, rode @ 6pm.

does the route from point A to point B just happen or should I map it out on the flyers?

Yes, late start. In Cleveland I think we met @ 5:30, rode @ 6pm.

Meetup.com can help and it's free.

http://criticalmass.meetup.com/7/

Eric, have a vague idea of a sensible route. If you're claiming "we ARE traffic" then an arterial route makes sense! I've never been on a CM ride that had a map - we all just assume someone knows where they're going, and sometimes that gets entertainingly chaotic.

i have an idea for you. look up your towns bike specific laws and print them on little cards. before the ride give everyone a card, that way people are less likely to do anything that will draw negetive attention and IF the piggies show up everyone in the group can say "i'm sorry officer but acording to local law #q2y.6 what i did was NOT illegal." you should also check out the indymedia.org sites for help.

Why call it a CM? you can avoid the stigma/reputation of CM entirely if you just get some folks together for a legal ride.

"we ARE traffic" is going on the flyers. I have a route or two in mind that cover some major roads and intersections.

bottom--that is a great idea. Especially for the first ride.

Maybe Pedalpalooza? Rolls off the tongue nicely.

Thanks again for the help. :)

critical mass is whatever your group makes it out to be.

i only know how critical mass is in my city, and im very proud of it. in seattle we have a really fun group of regular people that come out and ride once a month. never problems with the city, rarely problems with traffic (usually started by a short fused motorist, which we try to diffuse). if you make it fun, and easy going, and just look at is as a fun time to ride with a group of friends, then thats what it will be

in regards to getting it started.. scrounge the net for groups in your area and email them, network with other bikers. flyer as much as you can. frame flyers are a great way to spread the message straight to bikers. here is a copy of our seattle frame flyer http://scrimass.org/flyers/CMframeZ.pdf we cut those out, and then staple them onto bike frames. going to colleges or park and rides are great places to find masses of parked bikes

and definitely keep at it for a few months. last friday of every month is traditional around the world.. if you keep doing it, even if its just 5 people to start with, keep advertising and doing it, you'll see that word will spread and people will stay involved

good luck!

I mentioned that there is a Critical Mass on a local forum and the first response was this:

“in that case i plan to have a critical mass of cars to in turn block the bicycles from blocking the cars because it's not my fault the city does not build roads with bike lanes and a few people in cars do not respect cyclists. There are just as many people on bikes that do not follow the rules so we should protest people on bikes by that logic.”

I assumed that there would be reactions such as this but I thought I’d share.

Talk is cheap

I mentioned that there is a Critical Mass on a local forum and the first response was this:

“in that case i plan to have a critical mass of cars to in turn block the bicycles from blocking the cars because it's not my fault the city does not build roads with bike lanes and a few people in cars do not respect cyclists. There are just as many people on bikes that do not follow the rules so we should protest people on bikes by that logic.”

I assumed that there would be reactions such as this but I thought I’d share.

Well, I never thought of it that way, gee I guess they have a point. Bicycles are what's wrong with this country dagnabit, and I'm gonna give up my evil bicycle right now and go out and by a Ford Expedition!!!

I mentioned that there is a Critical Mass on a local forum and the first response was this:

“in that case i plan to have a critical mass of cars to in turn block the bicycles from blocking the cars because it's not my fault the city does not build roads with bike lanes and a few people in cars do not respect cyclists. There are just as many people on bikes that do not follow the rules so we should protest people on bikes by that logic.”

I assumed that there would be reactions such as this but I thought I’d share.


Yeah good idea. But don't call it Critcal Mass for Cars, call it 5 o'clock rush hour.

good one, Mars. I might have to use it. :)

Check these guys out: http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/bicycle/

They have tons of radical bike lifestyle literature and I can't find it on here now, but I once got a mag from them that talked about how to organize a critical mass. You could contact them and they'd find it. I ordered some shirts from them and got them in 3 days. So they're responsive.